It’s a long way to the top if you want to … and Regurgitator have. Now they don’t as much. In their halcyon days The Gurge as we fondly dubbed ‘em, sucked a lot of you know what, danced around in videos with animal suits on - Which Warner’s heavyweight executive was in one of those costumes? My lips are sealed!, made cheap keyboards a comeback novelty, veered erratically from the end of the punk rope to the top candy-smeared pop schtick. The singles and albums flowed to the top end of the charts. The Gurge were mighty. Their moments came and went. And when the fizzle and razzle and dazzle faded, they accepted the movement and passing of time with grace and just got on with what it is they do. Now Regurgitator are on an indie label and are a well-inured-in-the-psyche cult band. They will never be less than good because they are that talented. Quan Yeomans, Ben Ely, Peter Kostic and new girl Seja Vogel, take a bow. You deserve it.

Ely, a splendidly friendly Queenslander who is as well known in that State’s underground scene (he’s played in any number of side projects) as he is for his exploits in The Gurge. At home in Glebe, yes, he’s moved out of Queensland, he talks happily about some 15 years or so in and out of the spotlight.

“It’s not so intense now,” he says. “We don’t take it all as seriously as we used to, we don’t tour as often. Quan now lives in Hong Kong while Pete and I live in Sydney and Seja in Brisbane so we’re quite spread out.

“I think we appreciate it more now though because we do it less; you tend to take it for granted when it’s all you do all the time. Now we do a show in, say, Manly or Dubbo and a crowd turns-up and we tend to put a lot more into the show. It’s more of a fantastic thing. less is more when it comes to the band and music.”

The band’s sixth and most recent album, Love And Paranoia, has been dubbed by the band as it’s first romance album. Think broad definition of romance. After all, Blood & Spunk and Drinking Beer Is Awesome, aren’t exactly Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, although at the same time the allegory and associated imagery does linger in a twice removed 21st century kind of way. Anyway, it’s not a balls and all Gurge record but it is - as usual - a lot of fun and perfectly entertaining.

In a way though, Regurgitator are now in a new world. The old kids on the block. Fans who were 16 when the band first appeared are now in their 30s; others in their late 20s are into their 40s.

“Our audience has been amazing. Very dedicated. We genuinely appreciate the fact they are still coming out to see us,” Ben says. “I mean it’s like ‘Thanks for coming out and here’s a song you’ve heard 500,000 times before … ‘.” And while he jests, Ely does recognise that initially The Gurge’s timing couldn’t have been better.

“It was an interesting point in time,” he says. “We were lucky with our timing and a major signing us almost straight away. The world is a lot different now. It’s all about computers and downloading for free. It’s harder to get signed; record companies now sign when they have a sure thing, a guarantee; they bet on a winner. They don’t take chances like they used to.”

Regurgitator also fitted in with the music of the times. While grunge was rolling around like some lumpen thunderstorm unable to play itself out and getting ever so slightly weaker by the day but constantly refreshing itself on its own tears, The Gurge took the better end of punk and the classical end of pop, added some real anarchy and some sheer glam and chutpah, sucked a few strawberry lollies and somehow fitted in, in a major way. There were, after all, plenty of spaces for parking on rock street between the grunge puddles.

“The end of the ’80s and the early ’90s was an interesting time,” Ely says. “Australian rock didn’t know where to go. It was like the whole independent band scene went above ground. By the time we arrived anything was possible really. It isn’t now. At least not in the same way.”

So in 2007, Regurgitator released a romantic record. Quan is now finishing off his debut solo album and Ben Ely? Well, he’s been doing a lot of visual arts and hopes to have an exhibition towards the end of the year.

“I was away a lot of last year and I got sick of being away from my family and friends so I thought I’d do art this year and spend my time with my family,” Ely says. But all the songs keep coming down while I’m painting so I sing into a dictaphone and I’ve got an album of songs coming from painting.

“I think music should come out freely and easily and if you hold on too tight and try and make it happen it feels a little fake. I like the songs that fall out, not the ones forced out.

“I love songwriters like Daniel Johnston and those low-fi artists who record on tape machines. It might be low-fi with hiss and coughing and sneezing but it has an honesty and poetry lacking in a lot of music that’s adjusted for FM radio. It takes all the heart out of it. People should listen for the soul in the sound rather than the clean hi-hat sound.”

At the end of the day …art, with heart.